An obligatory look at Ohio State

About the University

The Ohio State University was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university in accordance with the Morrill Act of 1862 under the name of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. The school was originally situated within a farming community located on the northern edge of Columbus. While some interests in the state had hoped that the new university would focus on matriculating students of various agricultural and mechanical disciplines, Governor Rutherford B. Hayes foresaw a more classic, comprehensive university, and manipulated both the university's location and its initial board of trustees towards that end. Later that year, the university welcomed its first class of 24 students. In 1878, and in light of its expanded focus, the college permanently changed its name to the now-familiar "The Ohio State University" (with the article "The" as part of its official name).

So the "The" is officially part of the name, and you thought it was just arrogance.

Cool Fact

Ohio State's "Buckeye Bullet" electric car broke the world record for the fastest speed by an electric vehicle on October 3, 2004 with a speed of 271.737 mph (437.3 km/h) at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The vehicle also holds the US record for fastest electric vehicle with a speed of 314.958 mph (506.9 km/h), and peak timed mile speed of 321.834 mph (517.9 km/h). The vehicle was designed, built and managed by a team of engineering students at the university's "Center for Automotive Research-Intelligent Transportation" (CAR-IT).

Football related datum

Current Record: 7 – 2
Last year's Record: 10 – 3: lost to Texas in the Fiesta Bowl

The scary side of things

Sorry, I'm contractually obligated to post this picture

Terrelle Pryor's legs: Pryor leads the team in rushing with 554 yards and 6 touchdowns but in the Buckeyes two losses he was held for a combined 70 yards on 31 carries or just over 2 yards per attempt while being sacked 5 times. Running back Brandon Saine also has 439 yards and Dan Herron leads the team with 6 TD's. Ohio State can run the ball and score coming in 4^th in the conference in rushing offense and 2^nd only to Michigan in scoring.

Defense, defense, defense: Ohio State's recipe for success has been a simple one: play strong defense, control the game and wait for the offense to grind out some points. justaOSU is stingy when they get a lead: the Buckeyes are second in the conference to Penn State in rushing, passing, total, and scoring defense. DL Thaddeus Gibson leads the Buckeyes with 4 sacks and 9.5 TFL and the Buckeyes as a team are 3^rd in the conference with 25 sacks, the offensive line will have their work cut out for them.

The not-so-scary side of things

Terrelle Pryor's arm: while he has improved since last season, TP isn't going to blow teams away throwing the ball. justaOSU is 10^th in the conference and 94^th in the nation in passing offense and that's all on Pryor. When Pryor is on he becomes a multi-dimensional threat that's hard to stop, the thing is, he's seldom on and when you get pressure on him he falls apart fast. While he has thrown 13 TD's he's also thrown 9 picks.

Not so special teams: Normally an injury doesn't make "an obligatory look" but there's a very big one for the Suckeyes. Kicker Aaron Pettrey tore his MCL in the game against New Mexico State.

Pettrey leads the Big Ten in kicker scoring with 8 points per game and has converted 13 of 17 field-goal attempts and 28 of 29 extra-point attempts. He's a weapon from long distance, connecting on 6 of 8 field-goal attempts from beyond 40 yards.

That's a huge loss, one that will affect the offensive game plan. Without its proven long range kicker OSU will probably be going for it if they get inside Penn State territory.

Game Outlook

Earlier in the season I thought the justaOSU game was a definite loss but after watching the shocking Purdue debacle I'm swinging the other way (it's a figure of speech, spare me the jokes). For Ohio State the game plan is the same as it has been all season: control Penn State's offense, force a turnover or two and hope the OSU running game can score a couple times. For Penn State, they have to control the strong defensive line especially in passing downs and hold onto the ball. Pressure Pryor and make him beat them with his arm. For the love of God, please throw away the Bend and then Break Our Hearts defense and bring some controlled pressure, don't let Pryor sit back in the pocket and get comfortable. TP has the propensity to heave the ball in the general direction of the defense without any particular target in mind. When he does, pounce on it.

TNL's Prediction

Penn State 24
justa Ohio State U 14